Preserving Early Texas History: Essays of an Eighth-Generation South Texan

Copyright © 2018 by José Antonio López.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2018900590

ISBN:                     Hardcover                       978-1-5434-7721-4

                               Softcover                          978-1-5434-7722-1

                               eBook                               978-1-5434-7723-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Cover Pictures:

Top picture shows the Treviño-Uribe House in San Ygnacio, Texas. The home was built in 1830 by the author’s great, great, great grandfather, Don Jesús Treviño and is designated as an official Texas historical landmark. Constructed with local sandstone and basic building materials, early townspeople used the ranch home as a sanctuary during frequent Indian attacks and similar emergencies. The fort-like structure was later enlarged by the author’s great, great grandfather Blas Maria Uribe, married to Juliana, daughter of Don Jesús and his wife, Viviana Gutiérrez de Lara de Treviño.

Bottom photo is a picture of the fort’s gate (portón, in Spanish). The sundial over the portón was constructed by early San Ygnacio resident José Villarreal, a self-taught astronomer and Indian captive survivor.

The ancient portón represents a portal to yesteryear, reminding us of the need to preserve the memory of our pioneer Spanish Mexican ancestors, founders of South Texas.

Rev. date: 01/19/2018

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction

Exhibits

1. Building Blocks of Texas History

2. Seven Sisters of Texas

3. Connecting the dots of Texas Independence

4. El Camino Real

5. First 1st Lady of Texas (Maria Josefa Uribe de Gutiérrez de Lara), 1813

6. Historical Marker, San Ygnacio, Texas

7. Reminder to Mexican Soldier Reenactors

8. General Ignacio Zaragoza

Chapter 1   (2015)

A. The UTRGV Vaquero is only the beginning

B. The Lady in Blue

C. Of Missions and Presidios

D. The Ordeal of Manuel Ramírez Martínez

E. Texas Down Under

F. Texas Rising?

G. There’s no Álamo in the Álamo City

H. We, the people of Mexican descent

I. Woe to the Conquered

J. Why we speak Spanish

K. Be Strong, Take Courage

L. América Española

M. The Rio Grande, Backbone of the Borderlands

N. The Last Viceroy

Chapter 2   (2016)

A. Vaquero – A South Texas Legacy

B. New Spain versus New England

C. The New DRT is here

D. Gregorio Cortez – The One-man Gang

E. The Mayflower Compact, the First Dream Act

F. Embraces without Fences (Abrazos sin cercas)

G. Dismantling a Texas Myth

H. Hugo O’Conor – El Capitán Colorado)

I. Mexicans are Americans Too

J. The Promise of New Mexico

K. Protector and Defender of U.S. Independence

L. When a border is not a barrier

M. Tamaulipas Tragedy (Agustín de Iturbide) – The Iron Dragon

N. Letter to Texas State Board of Education (SBOE)

Chapter 3   (2017)

A. Seven Sisters of Texas (Las siete hermanas de Texas)

B. A Tale of Crossing Borders

C. Celebrating Texas Spanish History

D. The Tejano Monument – 5 Years Later

E. The Unlikely U.S. Independence Trio

F. Copper and Tin equals Bronze

G. A Country Divided

H. Treaty of Tordesillas

I. Parallel Providence

J. The Voice of El Pueblo (Reies López Tijerina)

K. Escandón and the two Bernardos

L. Sotana Negra (Black Robe) (Padre Eusebio Kino)

M. ¡Viva Santa Ana! (Padre Fernández de Santa Ana)

Chapter 4   Selected Information Sheets on pre-1836 Texas people, places, and events

A. Sister Maria de Ágreda The Lady in Blue.

B. Padre Antonio Margil de Jesús.

C. Padres Francisco and Miguel Hidalgo. (The Padres Hidalgo in Texas History).

D. José de Escandón.

E. Villas del Norte.

F. First Texas Independence, 1813.

G. Martín and Patricia de León.

H. Tejanas and Tejanos. (Who are Tejanas and Tejanos?)

Chapter 5   Early Texas history presentation summaries

A. Twelve Things Everyone Must Know about Texas History

B. First Texas Proclamation (Declaration) of Independence

C. Celebrating El Cinco de Mayo in Texas.

Chapter 6   Tackling Texas Tall Tales (TTTT)

Appendix A First Independent State of Texas

Appendix B Don Bernardo’s Ride to D.C.

Appendix C Goliad Early History Details

Appendix D Americans All

Epilogue

Bibliography

Dedication

To our pioneer ancestors, founders of this great place we call Texas.

Shedding ample blood, sweat, and tears, they built the first communities

Deep in the Heart of Texas –

San Fernando (San Antonio), Los Adaes/Nacogdoches, La Bahia/Goliad, and

José de Escandón’s Villas del Norte on the lower Rio Grande (Nuevo Santander).

Introduction

Knowledge is of no value, unless you put it into practice.

(Anton Chekhov)

The improvement of understanding is for two ends. First, our own increase of knowledge. Secondly, to enable us to deliver that knowledge to others. (John Locke)

oOo

Since I began writing history articles leading to the publishing of my 2015 book, Preserving Early Texas History (Essays of an Eighth-Generation South Texan), my goal has been to fulfill the two strategies above.

That is, to share the oral history stories of our Spanish Mexican ancestors that my mother used to tell my siblings and me when we were children. The reason she did so is because she knew we weren’t getting the information in the classroom. She was well aware that mainstream Texas history begins the story of our state in 1836, with the arrival of Anglo Saxon (anglosajón) immigrants from the U.S. She wanted her kids to know who they were, where they came from, and that we had a rich, first-class pioneer heritage.

However, what exactly is the story we wish to share and why is it so important to Spanish Mexican-descent citizens in Texas and the Southwest?

First, San Antonio observes its 300th birthday in 2018. Equally important, Santa Fe, New Mexico celebrated its 400th birthday in 2010. These two historical events (1) explain why everything old in Texas and Southwest is in Spanish; (2) they correctly counter mainstream Texas history’s contention that Texas history begins in 1836 with the Anglos’ arrival in Texas; and (3) they totally reject the popular false assumption that recent immigration is the cause for Texas’ and the Southwest’s Mexican-based ambience and extensive use of the Spanish language.

Spanish Mexican-descent U.S. citizens originating in the Southwest should be honored that our ancestral Spanish pioneers were the first Europeans to press their footprints here. By the time Anglo-Saxon and Northern European descent immigrants crossed the Mississippi River, a large network of western-style civilization sites dotted the landscape.

Truly, Spanish Camino Real travel maps guided the first Anglo immigrants moving westward toward Mexico. That’s the main reason why from Florida to California there’s no English-named explorers – all exploration had been done for them by our Spanish ancestors.

Yet, the above facts are either rejected or dismissed by mainstream history books. Said another way, Santa Fe’s and San Antonio’s founding reconciles the chronological order of Texas and Southwest history. Truly, they put U.S. history in the correct perspective.

Basically, Santa Fe and San Antonio provide the connectivity that those of us within what can only be described as a Tejano Renaissance movement wish to share with others. Hopefully, one day Mexican-descent students in Texas classrooms won’t be treated as foreigners in their own homeland as so many generations of their elders have been.

Yet, communicating early Texas and Southwest history is not as easy as it sounds. It’s especially true today, when national leaders have resurrected dormant bigotry by regularly disparaging Mexico and Mexican-descent U.S. citizens.

Regrettably, offensive anti-Mexican rhetoric is heard even here in Texas, a state settled by Spanish Mexican pioneers. Specifically, ill-informed state elected officials add their voices to the contentious border fence issue, often disrespecting our state’s dual Hispanic and Mexican mestizo origins.

They do this either because they are unaware of or are unwilling to accept Texas’ solid historical organic links to Mexico (New Spain). Incredibly, they find it difficult to acknowledge the fact that Mexican-descent U.S. citizens have every right to value and preserve their long-standing roots in Texas, strengthened by a Spanish European and Native American (mestizo) standpoint.

Incidentally, in writing early Texas history articles, I normally avoid the political arena. However, in a few cases, I had to respond to what were clearly verbal assaults against our Spanish Mexican heritage on this side of the border. Today is no time to be timid regarding the preservation of our heritage. It’s that important!

Still, it’s essential that we continue on our path to educate others that Texas and the Southwest are in New Spain, not New England. There’s no Plymouth Rock off the Texas coast.

As such, I wanted to put into practice my mother’s history lessons. I have done so since shortly after retiring from the U.S. Air Force (almost 38 years total service (four in military uniform and the rest in Federal status).

So began my post-retirement career as an early Texas history writer and public speaker. It’s been a challenging undertaking, but one that I’ve enjoyed tremendously. As with Volume 1, the articles contained in this collection are generally in chronological order.

Readers familiar with Volume 1 will note that these articles emphasize the same premises. In other words, they shed light on the long-ignored first chapters (pre-1836-1848) of Texas history. They may be written in Spanish, but it’s these same Spanish language characteristics that gave birth to Texas’ renowned charm and ironically attracted the first Anglo immigrants from the U.S. to Texas.

Each article is designed as an individual information capsule in response to a particular issue. They generally reinforce one or more of the following main themes:

- For starters, about half of the land on the U.S. mainland sits on former Spanish and Mexican territory. Thus, the main focus of the essays in this book aim to expand mainstream Texas history details that are deliberately omitted in the telling of Texas history.

- Spanish is the most senior European language in America.

- José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara is the first President of Texas.

- The first Texas independence was in April 6, 1813. The first Texas Declaration was issued on the same day. The first Texas Constitution was written and approved on April 17, 1813.

- Stephen F. Austin cannot be considered the Father of Texas, since Texas was already over 130 years old when he got here.

- Sam Houston took over a work in progress.

- The U.S. Mexico border drawn by the U.S. in 1848 is a permanent Mason Dixon Line. Unlike families that were reunited after the U.S. Civil War (1865), communities and families on the U.S. Mexico border continue to be separated to this day.

- Our Spanish Mexican ancestors established the first towns deep in the heart of Texas: San Antonio, Los Adaes/Nacogdoches, La Bahia/Goliad, and Las Villas del Norte in Nuevo Santander/Tamaulipas (now South Texas).

- Worth remembering that the contentious border wall (fence) is located in the middle of Old Mexico.

Progress up to date. Truly, as far as rediscovering and sharing early Texas history, we’re off to a solid start. Foremost, the Tejano Monument in Austin was unveiled in 2012. It’s the main spear leading our worthy quest, and the first memorial in our state’s capital honoring the Spanish Mexican founders of this great place we call Texas.

In addition, the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) erected a statue of the Father of South Texas, Count José de Escandón and pioneer colonizer of over 20 communities on both sides (ambos lados) of the lower Rio Grande.

Also in 2012, the Commissioner, Texas General Land Office (GLO), directed that the story of the Álamo’s pre-1836 story has to be showcased and made part of tourism, educational, and other informational programs. As such, a more inclusive and balanced explanation is anticipated regarding this historic building, the Spanish Governors Palace, San Antonio de Valero’s sister missions, other important structures, and Texas history in general.

In fact, that change in attitude is not only significant, but timely, since for the first time, most visitors are finding out that no fighting took place inside Mission San Antonio de Valero.

Also, Presidio San Antonio de Béxar was nicknamed El Álamo by local Bexareños simply because it was there where the Álamo de Parras, Coahuila soldiers and their families were stationed.

Similarly, this may be the most popular tourist attraction in Texas, but it is also the most disappointing. Tourists are surprised to learn that Mission San Antonio de Valero (the building they’re told is the Álamo) is instead a religious sanctuary. Dedicated to serve the area’s Native Americans, it’s a house of worship, not of battle. That’s the main truth in advertising reality that authorities are just now (somewhat reluctantly) addressing (see below).

For the record, it’s worth reminding readers that city leaders intentionally demolished the Presidio (where the battle took place) long ago to develop the site into commercial property. It was afterwards that tourism types wrongly labeled Mission San Antonio de Valero as the Álamo.

My advice to people who want to see a restored Presidio is that they should plan a visit to Presidio de Nuestra Señora de Loreto de La Bahia in Goliad, Texas.

(Note: While there, a visit to nearby Misión Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga is also recommended to understand the traditional separation of Missions and Presidios that also existed in San Antonio, San Sabá, Los Adaes, and other sites.)

(Note: Following the GLO commissioner’s change in policy, city officials have come to realize that they too have been telling an incomplete, slanted story of the Álamo. Thus, they’ve made plans to incorporate the area’s pre-1836 Spanish Mexican history and fill-in the missing pieces in the story. It’s a slow process, reluctantly accepted by decision-makers. However, the steps are headed in the right direction, nevertheless.)

Other signs of progress are as follow (not in any particular order of importance):

- The Handbook of Tejano History Online (part of the Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas History);

- an increasing number of schools are now including pre-1836 Texas people, places, and events in their curriculum;

- the growing number of genealogy and history groups being activated by enthusiastic descendants of the founders of Texas that reveals an encouraging, renewed interest in their early Texas family trees.

In summary, the general public will positively understand that Texas history is bilingual and bicultural and has been so since 1848. In carrying that message, an increasing number of early Texas history professors, historians, and aficionados of all backgrounds are making sure we complete our journey to fill-in Texas’ pre-1848 history gaps. In that regard, I’m honored to be on the newly opened Tejana and Tejano information highway.

Lastly, one more reminder. Spanish Mexican-descent citizens originating in the Southwest are not immigrants. They are descendants of the territory’s residents living in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, California, and northwest when the U.S. took the land from Mexico in 1848. Their long Spanish Mexican (Mestizo) heritage on this side of the border is what separates them from sister Hispanic groups in the U.S. that came later as immigrants.

Said another way, we are the fruit of a shared family tree planted in 16th-century New Mexico and whose massive bountiful branches spread out from Texas to California and beyond. There’s no need to apologize for our blessings.

The truth is that today’s Spanish Mexican-descent people originating in Texas and the Southwest represent the common denominator in all five stages of recorded history: Native American (pre-Columbian), Spanish Colonial (New Spain), Republic of Mexico, Republic of Texas, and U.S. statehood. In other words, we are still here; we never left!

My sincere hope is that Mexican-descent U.S. citizens of all walks of life, regardless of economic status, education, political affiliation, or where they now reside, and especially their children, learn to appreciate the fact that they have ownership of Texas and Southwest history.

Texas history without Tejanas and Tejanos is like a story with no beginning.

José Antonio López, December 2017

Special Note:

Pages 94 and 195 of my 2015 book, Preserving Early Texas History (Essays of an Eighth-Generation South Texan), contain two related items:

(a) A 2010 article I wrote challenging discriminatory Papers, Please laws targeting Mexican-descent people in Arizona, and

(b) A letter to the Superintendent of Schools, Tucson, Arizona, dated April 8, 2012, where I propose that he stop his ban on teaching Mexican American Studies (MAS) curricula in the Tucson school district.

UPDATE! (December 27, 2017,)

As this book goes to press and seven years after Arizona officials began their book banning efforts, a federal judge has issued a verdict that stops Arizona from enforcing state laws that ban MAS instruction. The judge stated in his ruling that the laws are unconstitutional and that Arizona officials who wrote and enacted them did so for racial/ethnic reasons.

The bottom line? It’s a victory for those of us who support a seamless history of Texas and the Southwest.

Exhibits

Chapter 1

(2015)

A. The UTRGV Vaquero is only the beginning

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was approved by the Texas state legislature in 2013.

This truly dream come true is having a tremendous positive impact on Valley students and parents, although, in truth, its effect is much greater.

In essence, this new university will complete a triangular-shaped, mega-sized campus for South Texas students, including Texas A&M-Kingsville on the east, Laredo’s Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) to the west, and now, UTRGV; in Edinburg and Brownsville, to the south.

No longer will local students have to travel long distances to attend fully-accredited, world class campuses with challenging curricula. This includes the new UTRGV School of Medicine. (It has taken 167 years for Austin to level the playing field for the Valley. All they need now is a full-service RGV Veterans Hospital, the completion of I-69, and extension of I-35 from Laredo to Brownsville.)

By the same token, Texas pioneer descendants and early Texas history aficionados are overjoyed by the UT Board of Regents’ approval of the name Vaquero as the mascot for the new university. Unfortunately, not everyone embraced the decision. That was especially true with a segment of the younger generation in the Valley. Generally, the negative feelings expressed by those opposed centered on a faulty premise. That is, that the Vaquero image is stereotypical, linking university students with a disparaging way of life. In truth, honorable vaqueros and vaqueras founded the Rio Grande Valley. The question is why don’t Valley youth know more of their forgotten South Texas history? To answer that basic question I offer the following insight:

To start, it’s not the young people’s fault. Living through generations of being told their heritage was unimportant, some good-intentioned Mexican-descent parents began to reject their long history in Texas just to cope in mainstream society. Unknowingly, they failed to pass on to their children the fact that they actually have clear ownership of Texas history. For example:

In the early 1700s, San Antonio, Los Adaes/Nacogdoches, Goliad, and the Villas del Norte in the Lower Rio Grande) were the first Texas regions to be settled. Thus, the earliest roots of the Rio Grande Valley come from Las Villas del Norte, the first European-descent settlements. They were towns created by José de Escandón on both sides (ambos lados) of the Rio Grande. (Note: Until 1848, South Texas was part of the state of Tamaulipas (Nuevo Santander), not Texas.)

With skills they brought from Central and Northern Mexico, Spanish Mexican pioneers set up the original ranchos as self-sustaining communities. These first citizens of Texas perfected the vaquero (cowboy) way of life. That’s why basic cowboy terminology is of Spanish language origin and why most of today’s cowboy attire and traditions have Spanish Mexican origins

After 1848, some of the Spanish words were Anglicized, such as: Sombrero Galoneado became Ten Gallon Hat, Chaparreras (Chaps), Rancho (Ranch), Vaquero (Buckaroo, Cowboy), Lazo (Lasso), La Riata (Lariat), Cincho or Cincha (Cinch), Rodeo (Rodeo), Corral (Corral), Jaquima (Hackamore), Mesteño (Mustang), Juzgado (Hoosegow), bronco (bronc), etc.

By the way, the word buckaroo has a curious beginning. In 1811, when Lt. Colonel José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara travelled to Washington, D.C., seeking White House help for the First Texas Revolution, he became an instant VIP. That’s because English-speaking people in the U.S. had heard about the amazing horsemen (vaqueros) from the wilds of Texas, but had never actually seen one in person. He was the first. However, when trying to say the word vaquero, the pronunciation sounded like buckaroo and that’s how that funny word was invented.

In 1721, Marqués de San Miguel Aguayo and his crew of intrepid vaqueros from Coahuila conducted the first cattle drive in Texas. Soon after, herds of wild horses and cattle roamed the Texas terrain. Remarkably enough, padres at the missions became the first Texas ranchers and our ancestor Native American congregations became the first Texas-grown vaqueros and vaqueras.

By mid-1700s, large ranchos dotted the Texas landscape. Several